Tiger Woods makes his return to the game this week after his knee surgery. And what a week to pick.

It has been two months since Woods last walked a fairway - the Masters in April. You'll recall he played poorly by his standards and still finished second. His left knee was probably killing him.



So, it's because of that and because he's Tiger Woods that the man is still the odds-on favorite to win this week's U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

I'm going to go out on a big limb here and say that Tiger will give it all he's got but he's going to run out of gas. Why? Despite who he is, Woods is tournament-rusty. His knee is untested over four days of walking and competing and I suspect it will be very sore at the end of each day.

Has he made adjustments to his swing? Not likely, and for that reason alone, his knee will take the full brunt of his powerful, twisting downswing. The same swing that has contributed to his knee problems to begin with.

A couple of other U.S. Open notes: the former British Amateur champion in 1991 and 2003, Gary Wolstenholme, squeaked into the Open when Sean O'Hair withdrew. Wolstenholme is 47, is unemployed and is living with his mother back in England. He's broke and is staying in a $99 per night motel, taking taxis back and forth to the course.

After inviting him, he says, the PGA Tour has not permitted him to play a practice round at Torrey Pines because he wasn't officially in the championship until Wednesday afternoon. Some rules are just plain stupid...

This is the first U.S. Open ever that has banned smoking. For spectators only. If you're outside the ropes, you can't light up thanks to a San Diego city ordnance. But if you're inside the ropes, you can smoke away to your heart's content, thanks to a USGA exemption that the city has agreed to.

Politics. Ya gotta love it.